Mass Effect: Old Soldiers
by R-I-C-A-R-D
Summary: Twenty years after the defeat of Sovereign, Shepard is forced out of retirement when a criminal group threatens the one closest to her.
1. What She's Done Now

Author's Note: A lot of ME fanfic tackles the relationships between Shepard and Liara or Shepard and Kaidan. Since I'm terrible at writing that sort of thing, I leave it to the experts. Instead I wanted to try something different.

_If I'm to fall  
Would you be there to applaud?  
Or would you hide behind them all?  
'Cause if I have to go,  
In my heart you'll grow  
And that's where you belong_

Oasis, I'm Outta Time

1. What She's Done Now

Captain Alison Shepard (Retired) looked up at the clear blue skies of Eden Prime with a frown. Though the local meteorology service had predicted good weather, Shepard had discovered in recent times that her own joints, particularly the knees, were a much better indicator of coming rain. She snorted to herself as she went back to the flower bed she was weeding. Last year, her gardening skills had garnered third prize in the local gardening competition. This year, Shepard was gunning for first. Eden Prime's rich soils, good rainfall and temperate climate were a boon for farmers and agriculture. The azaleas were coming along beautifully. Gardening, and the nurturing of new life, appealed to the Captain on a deep level. Some days, she could almost feel the weight of those who'd died by her hand, justly or otherwise pulling at her, dragging her down. On days like that, she'd spend time in the garden, not actually doing anything, just drawing what comfort she could from the life she'd brought forth using the same hands that had ended so many lives.

The Captain's early retirement from the Systems Alliance Military and her relinquishing her Spectre status had come as a shock to many. But those closest to her had realised her actions had been motivated by the imminent arrival of her daughter into this often harsh and cruel galaxy.

Shepard had known she wouldn't be able to carry on risking her own life in service to a higher calling, not if it meant leaving her only child an orphan. After growing up on Earth without ever knowing her own parents, she'd be damned if she was going to condemn Lauren to the same fate. Especially not after her father, with whom Shepard had carried out a drunken one-night stand during shore leave had gotten himself killed in an ambush two weeks after they'd parted ways.

"I always thought I'd meet a nice man, maybe a doctor and settle down like normal people," Shepard muttered as she yanked out a particularly stubborn clump of crab-grass. Still, once she'd gotten over the initial shock after being informed she was actually _pregnant_ - it was typical that she'd belong to the two percent who suffered a failure of the contraceptive implant - she'd found she was actually looking forward to motherhood.

And if Shepard had been surprised to learn of the pregnancy, she had been even more surprised by the unexpected waves of protective maternal instincts that had washed over her as the doctor calmly listed her options. "Termination," the doctor had said, as though discussing the results of a ball game. Shepard's arms had wrapped protectively around her stomach and she'd shaken her head vigorously, "No, no and no," she'd snapped, causing the doctor to look up in surprise at her tone.

"Adoption, then," the doctor had continued. Then he'd blinked as his patient laughed harshly.

"After what I went through on Earth? Do you realise that those egg and sperm donors that were my parents just dumped me on the doorstep of some church?"

"Adoption is hardly the same-" the doctor broke off as Shepard abruptly stood.

"No. No termination, no adoptions. I'm having this child and I'm going to raise her. Or him. Or them, if it comes to that."

That same afternoon, five years after what she still referred to, tongue in cheek, as The Sovereign Incident, Captain Alison Shepard informed the top brass, and the Council of her decision to retire.

Now, as she finished up the gardening and rose to her feet, her personal communicator chirped. Working on autopilot, Alison unclipped it from her belt and answered.

"Shepard." Even after fifteen years of retirement and civilian life, some habits just wouldn't die.

"Ms Shepard? This is Charles Walters from-"

"What has she done now?" Alison asked with a sigh as she straightened up, her spine crackling. She pinched the bridge of her nose with her fingers and closed her eyes. Like a typical teenage girl, fifteen year old Lauren was constantly pushing the boundaries of authority in one way or another. And usually in ways that resulted in the headmaster of the elite private school Shepard had decided was the best place to school her daughter calling her up in the middle of the day to tell her Lauren had been suspended. Again.

"Ms Shepard, Lauren was involved in an...altercation with another student. I believe certain harsh words were exchanged. Also punches."

Alison felt a smirk tugging the corners of her mouth; she had no doubt that it was Lauren who'd thrown the first punch. She'd had taught her girl everything about unarmed combat that she herself had been taught. And quite a few dirty tricks that weren't part of standard Alliance combat training. No child of hers was going to be the victim of gang-related violence as she herself had been. Not that there was much of a gang element on Eden Prime. Never hurt to be prepared, though.

Opening her eyes and heading towards the house, Shepard replied, "I see. And what of the other student involved? I know Lauren can be a handful at times but she wouldn't lash out unless she'd been provoked. And even then, strongly provoked."

"Ms Shepard," and the headmaster always seemed to infuse the _Ms_ with an air of disapproval as though Shepard's choice to remain single whilst raising her child was somehow a corrupting influence on the girl. Alison rolled her eyes at the man's tone.

"Provoked or not, the school has a zero-tolerance policy to violence. I'm afraid we have no choice but to suspend Lauren. You'll have to come down to the school and collect her." With that, the headmaster disconnected.

"Jerk," Alison said as she clipped the comm unit back on her belt. She looked down at herself - her gardening outfit of faded jeans and old Alliance-issue black T-shirt was marked with old grass stains and her hands still had dirt grimed into them. Alison decided it wouldn't do to roll up to the school looking the way she did. Lauren would already be mortified at the thought of being picked up by her mother _in front of the whole school _without said mother looking like somebody's groundskeeper.

Shepard laughed to herself as she entered the house. In the distant horizon, rain clouds were forming.


	2. Like So Embarrassing!

2. Like So Embarrassing!

Twenty minutes later, hair still damp from the shower, Alison brought her car to a halt in one of the visitor parking slots in front of the school. St Monica's School for Girls proclaimed the sign affixed to the impressive granite walls surrounding the school. The walls would want to be impressive, considering the astronomical fees the administrators gouged out of parents for sending their children here. Though Shepard griped about the fees like most every other parent, she was in truth glad to pay them. The school had a reputation for turning out a higher than average number of graduates with higher than average grades. The kind of grades that could get a certain young lady into medical school. If she could just avoid getting herself kicked out of school in the next few years. That was the main reason Shepard had enlisted...enrolled her daughter at St Monica's. She wanted her child to have all the advantages in life she herself hadn't. No girl of hers was going to sign up for the Alliance Military and risk having her head blown off during a training mishap. Like that poor lad from up the street. Enlisted straight out of high school, fulfilling a life-long dream to follow in his father's footsteps. He'd been shipped back home a month later.

Alison switched off the engine and got out, idly singing a few bars of the old rock song she'd been listening to during the drive. Shepard walked towards the main gates, and showed her ID to the security guard manning the entrance. The guard was mostly superfluous; automated security systems would turn unwanted guests into a red mist if they were to actually get past the gates. Shepard appreciated the gesture though. Humans were fallible but on the upside, you couldn't hack their brains.

The security guard accepted Shepard's ID, looked from it to her and back again. Then he snapped to attention and saluted.

"Captain Shepard! It's an honour to meet you!" the guard, whose badge identified him as Wilks said.

Alison fought down a grin and instead nodded formally and replied, "At ease, Wilks."

Wilks relaxed and asked, almost shyly, "Could I get an autograph? Normally I wouldn't ask but my father told me stories of how you fought off the geth on Eden Prime back in the day."

"Back in the day, right," Shepard said as she signed Wilks' notebook. The kid was only a few years older than Lauren. _God I feel old_, she thought to herself.

"Well, if you'll excuse me, I have a wayward daughter to collect," Alison said as she reclaimed her ID, stepped past the weapon scanners and onto the school grounds.

Slouched against the outside of the admin building, her backpack at her feet, Lauren Shepard rolled her eyes as her mother approached. God! She was _so _embarrassing. That outfit was like, six months out of date! Lauren sighed and rolled her eyes theatrically as Shepard the Elder stopped in front of her, arms crossed over her chest. Mother and daughter were both quite similar, physically at least. At five-eight Lauren was taller than most of the other girls at school and her mother's insistence that she learn self-defence had left her somewhat leaner and more muscular as well. Though not so lean that a person would ever mistake her for a boy, God forbid. Like her mother, Lauren possessed blue eyes and black hair. Unlike her mother, her shoulder-length hair wasn't shot through with streaks of purest white. Lauren had to admit that the effect on her mother was kinda cool. Though the thought of going grey herself filled her with dread. Lauren swore to herself that when her own hair started to turn, she'd dye it to within an inch of its life.

"So," Mum began. "Suspended. Again."

Lauren shrugged and smoothed down the skirt of her uniform over her thighs. "Seems like," she said. She picked up her backpack and slung it over her shoulder.

"For how long?" Mum asked, falling into step alongside her. Ugh! Did she have to walk so close to her? Lauren took a few steps to the left, and tried to ignore the glances of the few passing students hurrying to class. Stuck up cows.

"Two weeks. God! That stupid bitch had it coming!"

"Language, please," Mum said calmly. Lauren rolled her eyes again. If even half the stories about her mother's wartime exploits were true, Alison Shepard'd had a real mouth on her.

"So? What happened," inquired Shepard the Elder as they left the school grounds and headed to the silver car.

"What do you mean 'what happened'? Didn't that moron of a headmaster tell you?" Lauren flounced into the front passenger seat and slammed the door shut.

Alison settled into the driver's seat and started the car. Immediately that godawful _old timey_ music her mother loved so much poured out of the speakers.

"Geez, Mum! This music is so old! You are like, _so embarrassing_! I can't believe we're related! My God!"

Pulling onto the road, Alison turned up the volume and began to sing along. Deliberately out of tune. Beside her, Lauren clapped her hands over her ears and said loudly "La la la! I'm not hearing you!"

After a few minutes, Shepard turned off the stereo and asked, "Well?"

Lauren shot her an annoyed glance and said, "That stupid cow Denise Robinson was saying that the only reason you'd been made a Spectre was because you'd had if off with the entire Council!"

Shepard couldn't help but grin to herself. "Really? The entire Council? Yeah, I can kinda see myself going for the asari," Alison laughed at the expression her daughter's face, "But the other two? And that turian? Honey, that guy was borderline xenophobic when it came to dealing with humans. Me especially."

"Look, I know I shouldn't have hit the bitch-"  
"Language," Alison replied.

"But I wasn't just going to let her slag you off like that! After what you went through all those years ago, fighting the geth and that Saren prick...sorry. Anyway I just couldn't let that slide. So I popped her in the nose. I'm sorry I caused you all this trouble."

"Wow, an actual apology. O child of my loins, you never cease to amaze me."  
"Ugh! That is so gross!" Lauren said and glared out the window. Overhead, the dark clouds that had formed during the last half-hour delivered the rain that Alison's joints had told her would come. Lauren frowned, "The weather service said it was going to be fine!" Then she turned to gaze at her mother. Despite the lines around her mouth and eyes, her mother was still quite good looking for her age.

"So I suppose you're going to ground me for like a month?" Lauren said, mostly to break the silence.

"I think you're getting a little old to be grounded, now," replied Shepard the Elder as she stopped at a set of traffic lights. Outside, the rain was already beginning to slacken off.

"Well aren't you going to yell at me at least? Tell me off for jeopardising my education and my future?"

Ahead, the lights turned green and Alison drove smoothly through the intersection. "I ask myself," Alison replied, "What would going off at you accomplish? Other than to trigger a screaming match neither of us wants that would result in you storming upstairs and slamming your bedroom door so hard that the entire house would shudder. No. You know what you did was wrong. Or at least, the wrong thing for the right reasons and I'm going to trust you to learn from this experience and hopefully this whole episode will bring us closer together as mother and daughter. Girls' night in?"

Lauren gaped at her mother in shock. _Girls' night in? Bring them closer together? _What the frack? "OK, whatever meds you're on, cut the dose. God!"

Alison just smiled to herself as she turned the sound system back on.


	3. Taken for a Ride

3. Taken For A Ride

A few hours later, as Shepard the Elder was busying herself making dinner, Lauren came downstairs wearing an old red tracksuit and running shoes. She paused in the kitchen with its granite-topped benches and gleaming appliances and observed as her mother hummed to herself and diced vegetables. Shepard the Elder felt her daughter's presence behind her and turned around.

"Where do you think you're going, young lady?" she asked.

"I'm going for a run, is that OK? Or are you afraid I'm gonna start acting all 'juvenile delinquent' and carjack somebody?" Lauren replied.

"Fine, but be back before dark. Don't roll your eyes at me, Lauren," Alison said in warning. Her daughter blew out an exasperated breath but nodded all the same.

Outside the house, Lauren performed a series of stretches, relishing the burn in her muscles before she set off on her run. The Shepard household was about a twenty minute drive from the capital of Eden Prime and there wasn't a great deal of traffic on the roads at the moment. What little there was, Lauren paid no mind. She concentrated on her running, losing herself in the pounding of her sneakered feet on the pavement and the flow of breath in and out of her lungs. She didn't notice the nondescript white van driving too slowly along the road behind her.

Inside the van, an average looking man with brown hair and eyes carefully watched the teenager as she continued her run, heedless of their presence. In the rear of the van were two more men, also average looking, so as to be as non-memorable as possible to any witnesses. Not that there were any at the moment. The driver shook his head; abducting the daughter of a former Spectre agent? Sure, the pay was good, if they lived long enough to collect it. The driver had no qualms about kidnapping - he'd worked for the batarians for a number of years, yanking kids off the streets of various worlds to fulfill specific requests from buyers but the idea of nabbing Lauren Shepard didn't sit well with him. He had no doubts as to what the former Captain Shepard would do if she ever caught up with the kidnappers.  
_Just think of the money,_ he reminded himself as he pulled the van alongside the girl.

Lauren was faintly aware of the van behind her. It seemed to be taking a hella long time to drive past her. What was the driver doing, ogling her backside? That was so typical of men these days, bloody perverts. Lauren turned her head and glared at the driver as the van pulled alongside her and matched her speed.

"Got a problem?" she snapped. Without waiting for a reply, Lauren picked up her pace and kept going. From behind her, she could hear the sound of the van's sliding door open and turned to see a pair of men get out and head towards her. Uh oh.

Lauren turned and halted, knowing she couldn't outrun a van. A feeling of calm descended on her as she realised what was about to happen. The daughter of the famed Saviour of the Citadel was about to be abducted for ransom. _Took you morons long enough to come up with that idea. You could have saved yourself a lot of trouble and grabbed me at six months old._

Lauren worked to steady her breathing and heart rate as she fell into a defensive stance. She was outnumbered but her mother had instructed her in every form of martial art she herself knew since Lauren was old enough to walk. Unless these guys were armed with stun batons and were prepared to use them, they were going to get hurt.

"Hello, Lauren. Fancy coming for a ride with us?" the taller man said.

"How does 'no' sound?" Lauren said, gaze flicking from one to the other. The driver had brought the van to a halt and was observing.

"It's not like you have a choice," the first man said and moved in to grab her.

He fell back seconds later howling in pain, blood flowing freely from his broken nose. Lauren followed up the initial strike with a kick to the man's cods. The would-be kidnapper's eyes widened as his hands moved to clutch at his groin. He keeled over, whimpering. The second man grabbed Lauren and attempted to drag her to the van. She didn't waste her breath screaming. Instead she stomped on his instep then turned and struck him in the solar plexus. His eyes glazed over and he too collapsed.

The driver took all this in with a resigned sort of expression on his face. Hadn't he told them it would be easier to simply taser her through the window? But oh no, they had to do the whole tough guy act and stupidly give the girl time to defend herself. Idiots. The girl's eyes met his through the open window as he picked up the weapon from the seat beside him. A look of fear stole across her face as she turned and tried to run. The taser's metal prongs caught her between the shoulder blades and the 50,000 volts dropped her as though she'd been poleaxed.


	4. A Mother's Worry

4. A Mother's Worry

Something was wrong, Alison knew now. Lauren had left for her run over an hour ago and should have been back by now. Alison paced back and forth between the kitchen and living area of the house and debated calling Lauren to check up on her. On the one hand, Lauren would go absolutely ballistic at her for checking up on her, what did she think she was, like ten years old? On the other hand, Alison's over-active imagination was showing her all kinds of unpleasant things at the moment - her little girl lying dead in the gutter, the victim of a hit and run. Her daughter in the emergency room of the local hospital, the victim of a random street attack. Her daughter...

"Oh, the hell with this!" Alison said, abruptly ceasing her pacing. She turned and headed to the phone on the wall. It began to ring just as she laid her right hand on it.

Alison snatched the phone up. "Where the hell are you? I've been going out of my mind with worry!"

"Well, that is a shame, isn't it?," the cultured sounding voice that very definitely wasn't Lauren's replied.

"Who is this?" Alison demanded, a grim feeling settling over her like a burdensome cloak.

"Names aren't important but if you absolutely need such, you may refer to me as One." the voice answered.

"What do you want?"

"Tsk tsk, I do hope you've instilled better manners in young Lauren here. Though considering the shape she left my people in, I rather doubt it."

Shepard's vision seemed to waver as the impact of the man's words hit her. Things seemed warp as though viewed through a fish-eye lens and her legs were suddenly unable to support her weight. Alison's knees buckled, spilling her to the tiled floor. For several seconds, she felt unable to even breathe, let alone speak.

"Ms Shepard? Are you still there? Oh, I rather hope you haven't fainted or something equally inconvenient. Time is of the essence here."

With an effort, Alison said slowly and deliberately, "If you so much as harm a hair on her head-"  
"Spare me your empty threats. You and I both know you won't do anything to endanger your daughter's life so let's skip the melodrama, shall we?"

Alison slumped back against the wall and stared mutely at the holograph of herself and her daughter taken just last year.

"That's better," the voice of One said, "I'm sure you understand how this all works. We have your daughter - don't worry she's unharmed - and you have money. I propose a simple exchange: money for daughter."  
"Put her on," Shepard said, looking into the eyes of the girl in the picture, tears flowing unnoticed down her face. "I need to know she's OK. Please."

There was a brief pause then her voice sounded in Alison's ear. Shepard sobbed in relief. "Mum? I'm OK, really."  
Wiping tears from her eyes, Shepard said, "Baby, I'll do everything I can to bring you home. I promise."

Then One was back on the phone. "There. You see? She's the picture of health. I wish I could say the same for Three and Four but-"  
"They deserved whatever they got," Shepard replied as she pulled herself up.

"Interrupt me again, and you will have cause to regret it. Now, to business. I will give you twenty-four hours to assemble five million credits. And don't even try to tell me you don't have the money. I will contact you again with the account details you will require to transfer the funds. Oh and it should go without saying that any attempt to contact the police, C-Sec or any of your old military allies would be extremely unwise."

Before she could reply, Shepard found herself listening to the hum of a disconnected line.

Being tasered wasn't as bad as Lauren had imagined it would be. It was actually worse. She might have screamed as the barbs pierced her skin and her muscles seized up. She couldn't really remember. She remembered being dragged into the van with her wrists and ankles cuffed together so she was kind of hunched over herself. Her abductors hadn't gagged her. Not immediately anyway.

As she recovered from the effects of the taser, her mouth, always quick to get her into trouble began its work in earnest.

"You know, you guys are making a really big mistake. I mean, do you have any _idea_ what my mother will do to you when she finds me? And she _will _find me. She will frack you up. She will frack you the frack _up_."

None of her abductors replied. The driver, the one who'd tasered her simply drove the van at the legal speed limit. Lauren had no idea where they were going; the van had no side windows and the cargo area was curtained off from the cab so she couldn't see out the windscreen.

The other two simply glowered at her from their places in the rear of the van. One of them was nursing a broken nose and his eyes were heavily bruised. Awesome. The second looked like he was about to puke. Served him right.

"What? Aren't you guys going to tell me to shut up? Or did being beat up by a teenage girl scare you speechless?"

From the front of the van, the driver said, "Three, gag her."

"Three? Oh my God! I get the whole using code names to conceal your identities thing but come on! Oooh, look at me, I'm Number Threeee! And did it every occur to you idiots that I can see your faces?"

"Better hope we don't decide to kill you then," the driver replied.

Uncharacteristically, Lauren's mouth had no reply and she made no effort to resist as the man called Three - the one with the nose - tore a strip of duct tape from a roll and stuck it over her mouth.

_Twenty-four hours...five million credits....twenty-four hours....extremely unwise...._

Alison's muscles shook uncontrollably as adrenaline combined with a healthy dose of shock hit her.

The two halves of her being - mother and former soldier were at war with one another. Mother Shepard wanted to sit tight, contact her finance brokers and authorise them to cash out some of her investments so she could make the payment.

Soldier Shepard, who'd faced down Reaper Possessed Saren in the Council Chambers lo those many years ago argued that agreeing to the demands of the kidnappers was foolhardy and that she should take the battle to them. And it wasn't as though Shepard didn't know exactly where her daughter was.

Fifteen years ago, mindful of the chance that somebody may one day use her child to strike at her, Shepard had instructed her doctors to implant a sub-dermal tracking device beneath the skin of baby Lauren's neck. If she was anywhere on the planet, satellites in orbit over Eden Prime would be able to pinpoint Lauren's location to within a few metres. Provided she was still alive, of course.

The locator devices were standard equipment used by many corporations to keep track of their staff and had proven invaluable in search and rescue operations if the missing person were fitted with one.

Of course the civil lib mobs tended to scream bloody murder about the idea of Big Brother keeping an eye on people but Shepard had long ago decided that what good were your civil rights if you weren't alive to enjoy them? Of course she hadn't informed Lauren of her decision to essentially microchip her like she would a pet dog or cat. Some things she just decided to keep to herself.

Mind made up, Shepard made herself compartmentalise what had happened. For the moment, she couldn't afford to act the distraught parent. She forced the mental image of Lauren into a small dark box inside her mind and shut it tight. Then, heading towards her bedroom upstairs, she brought out and dusted off that old part of her life that, even after all this time, was still quite close to the surface. It was time for Captain Shepard to come out of retirement.

In the master bedroom, Shepard pulled shut the blinds and curtains and powered up her desktop terminal. While the OS was loading, she opened the long wardrobe that took up an entire wall, shoving aside racks of clothing to reveal the safe behind. Shepard pressed the palm of her right hand to the biometric scanner. After a few seconds the door hissed open, granting access to the small armoury of gear within.

Although civilian ownership of military-grade weapons and armour was very, very illegal, Shepard's old contacts in C-Sec and the Alliance military had managed to 'lose' the odd crate of gear over the years, crates that seemed to magically wind up in her possession. Odd that.

Shepard removed the Aldrin Labs Onyx hardsuit. Hardly top of the line and the design hadn't been improved much over the standard issue suit she'd worn during the early days of her career but better than waltzing into a firefight naked.

The suit had sat unused in the back of the wardrobe since Lauren had been born - _don't go there_ - with a constant trickle of power from the household fuel cells keeping the shield capacitors charged.

Moving quickly, Shepard stripped to her underclothes and worked herself into the hardsuit. The fit was tighter than she remembered it being. Putting such trivialities out of her mind, Shepard removed the sidearm, inserted the block of ballistic compound and racked the slide. Shepard briefly considered breaking the shotgun out of storage then decided against it. The handgun she could easily conceal beneath her ankle-length leather coat which would double as a cover for the armour but the shotgun was just too bulky.

Finally, Shepard removed the biotic amplifier from its case inside the safe, pushed a sheaf of hair away from the implant jack at the base of her skull and carefully clicked it into place. Immediately she felt the old familiar throbbing in the back of her mind, like a second heartbeat. Though a decade and a half of civilian life hadn't called for much use of her biotic abilities, Shepard had been careful to maintain the strict regimen of exercises needed to ensure her talents wouldn't dull with time.

By now the computer terminal was ready and Shepard brought up the application to track Lauren's sub-dermal implant.

"Come on, come on," Shepard muttered as the drives whirred quietly.

After several seconds, the log on dialogue box popped up and Shepard quickly entered the access code.

"OK, where are you?" she said to herself as the planetary map display zoomed in to ground level. A blinking green light representing Lauren appeared onscreen, causing Shepard's heart to speed up painfully in her chest - her child was out there somewhere.

Specifically somewhere in the middle of the main tourist strip in the capital - an odd place to stash the object of a ransom demand she though. But maybe the kidnappers were hoping to hide out in plain sight. It's the sort of trick she'd try, if she were in the business of kidnapping. Shepard removed a palm-sized computer from the desk drawer and confirmed that it too was displaying Lauren's current position. Nodding decisively to herself, she shut down the desk terminal, slipped the smaller device into her coat pocket and left the house.


	5. Brattish Antics

5. Brattish Antics

The penthouse suite of the Garden of Eden Hotel wasn't half bad, Lauren had to admit to herself. Once she'd gotten past being handcuffed to the towel rail in the opulently appointed bathroom that was. When the van had finally come to a stop and the doors opened up, Lauren had observed that they'd parked inside an underground garage of some sort. Judging by the number of high-end luxury cars parked nearby, the place wasn't some dump favoured by middle aged men carrying out clandestine affairs with their twenty-something secretaries. The man called Two - the driver - had parked the van in a slot marked with a reserved sign and killed the engine. Three and Four, they of the busted nose and bruised man-parts removed Lauren's restraints and the duct tape from her mouth - only to jam a gun between her shoulder blades and march her to an elevator marked VIP use only. Of course, nobody else was around at that precise moment, either.

Deciding to give it one last try, Lauren made a plea for common sense. "Look, guys, I'm sorry about busting you up before but that was self defense. You two totally had it coming to you, you know? But look, let me go and I'll at least try to convince my mother not to pop two into the backs of your heads. Whaddya say?"

Stony silence was her only reply as the three men escorted her at gunpoint across the expanse of the parking lot and to the elevator. Two entered a code into the keypad and the elevator doors opened smoothly.

"Fine, don't say I never warned you guys," Lauren said as they pushed her into the waiting elevator car. "Seriously," she continued as the doors closed and the same man removed a keycard from his pocket and inserted it into a slot on the control panel, "When my mother finds me, she will make you wish you'd never been born."

The elevator rose rapidly and opened onto a hallway floored with what Lauren assumed was some kind of horrendously expensive polished marble. The marble itself was black shot through with veins of white and gleamed in the light cast from small lamps set into the ceiling. Black shot through with white - it was a forceful reminder of her mother and Lauren felt like crying. _The hell with that_, she told herself. _Don't give these guys the satisfaction._ The soles of Lauren's running shoes made minute squeaking sounds on the floor as she was forced up the hallway.

Inside the penthouse itself, the stone flooring gave way to a deep-pile carpet of pale cream. Lauren's feet sank into it almost to the ankle.  
"Do take off your shoes, child! Have you no decorum _at all?_" Lauren's head jerked up at the voice from inside the living area. Before she could reply in any way the man's voice spoke again, "Two, what have I told you about leaving your shoes on when you enter the room, hm?"

Two sighed audibly and replied, "My apologies, sir. But I was under the impression you wanted the girl secured as quickly as possible."

"But is it so much to ask for a modicum of manners?" Lauren saw that the voice belonged to a man of middle years dressed in a black business suit. His greying hair was cut short and he had the air of one who expected others to be at his beck and call.

"So I see you did not submit meekly," the man observed, taking in the bruised features of his underling.

"Like I'm gonna just throw my hands up and say 'oh please, kidnap me! I have nothing better to do!'" Lauren snapped.

"Yes, quite," the man said, sounding thoughtful. "Now, let us establish some rules. As you have no doubt gathered, we are holding you for ransom-"  
"No! Really? I'm like, totally shocked and dismayed!"

From behind her, the heretofore silent Three said, "You see what we've had to put up with, boss?"

"When I want a comment, Three, I shall ask for it. Be silent. And do something about that nose before you get blood on the carpet. Oaf."

Muttering obscenities, Three left Lauren's side and disappeared out of her view. Presumably to do something about his nose. Behind her, Two and Four stood immobile. Four still held the gun to her back.

"Now where were?" the older man asked himself. "Oh yes. Rules. First, the penthouse is fully soundproofed so don't waste your time trying to scream. Second, if you persist in your brattish antics, I'll be forced to confine you somewhere and give you time to think about your position."

Lauren crossed her arms over her chest and snorted, "Yeah right, what is this, frigging preschool? You got a corner set up so naughty children can think about what they've done? In case it's escaped your attention, _you're_ the one misbehaving here! I was just going out for a run! God!"

"Lock her up in the bathroom. I have a call to make."


	6. Improv

6. Improv

Following the signal pulsing out from the back of her daughter's neck, Shepard had to remind herself to drive at the legal speed limit and not do anything that would attract undue attention. Like, say, storm wherever her girl was being held and take no prisoners. _You can't afford to go in guns blazing, Shepard,_ the cold, detached part of her personality reminded her. _Take a leaf from the playbook of the salarian STG teams. Go in silent but go in hard._

Alison nodded to herself as she stopped at a set of traffic lights. She forced her hands to relax their white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel. All around her, people from all species were going about their business, unworried by thoughts of criminals and kidnap plots. But that was the attraction of a world like Eden Prime - it was supposed to be a place you could forget your worries, at least for a while. Before her, the lights turned green and Shepard gunned the engine, drawing startled glances from pedestrians as the car roared through the intersection.

A glance at the screen of the palm-sized computer assured her that she was closing in on her daughter's position. According to the map, the signal was emanating from one of several high rise luxury hotels in the area. As near as she could tell from the map display, her daughter was being held somewhere within the Garden of Eden Hotel. Shepard rolled her eyes at the name.

Shepard cruised past the building, performing a quick visual inspection as she did so. The place was fairly busy with a shuttle bus from the spaceport dropping off newly-arrived tourists and snap-happy people were taking digital pictures of the scenery. Several blocks past the hotel, Shepard found a spot in a parking lot. Before getting out of the vehicle, she double checked the gun, making sure the safety was on and a round was in the chamber. Staring out the windscreen without really seeing anything, Shepard calmly calculated the odds of either herself or Lauren walking away from this alive and intact. During her years of active service, the Captain had always been able to rely on her comrades to support her in battle and perform battlefield functions she wasn't equipped to handle such as hacking computers or reducing the effectiveness of the enemy's shields. Alone, the best she could hope to do was to locate her daughter before anybody knew she was even here and if it came down to it, using her biotic abilities to kill whoever stood in her way. If she had to lay down her own life to protect Lauren, then so be it. A shudder rippled through her at the thought of making an orphan of her little girl. Collecting the hand computer, Shepard exited the car, locked it and paused briefly to work the kinks out of her neck.

Outside, the sun was beginning to sink below the horizon and the temperature cooled accordingly. Shepard nodded to herself; in the cooler air of the early evening, her long coat would look less out of place. Less likely to scream 'I'm packing heat!' as well. Turning in the direction of the hotel, Shepard began to move at a fast walk, moving around the slow-moving pedestrians and tourists gawking at everything. _You'd think they'd never seen the sun set before,_Shepard thought to herself. As she walked past the hotel, Shepard eyed it again with her peripheral vision. The spaceport bus had since departed, as had the snap-happy tourists. Another look at the palm computer confirmed that this was indeed the place. Unfortunately, without a floor-plan of the building, Shepard had no idea exactly where to begin searching for Lauren. _Improvise_, the thought flashed through her conscious mind as she crossed the road and entered the air-conditioned lobby.

Only vaguely aware of the leather sofas and glass-topped tables scattered around the lobby, Shepard made her way to the salarian behind the reception desk.

"Greetings! How may I assist you?" he said, large eyes like polished ebony turning in her direction.

"Hello, I was hoping you could help me. I'm a writer for a travel magazine and I was hoping to get a floor-plan of the building to help with an article I'm working on." Shepard was somewhat surprised by the ease with which the lie rolled from her tongue. Reminded her of the scams she had pulled as a teen on Earth. If the salarian noticed the noticed old scar across the left side of her face, he tactfully didn't draw attention to it.

"Oh, most certainly. Whatever I can do to help!" the salarian replied, nodding enthusiastically. He typed rapidly on the keyboard before him before handing Shepard an OSD with the floor-plans of the entire hotel.

Nodding her thanks, Shepard palmed the OSD and sat down at one of the nearby sofas. Checking to make sure she wasn't being observed, Shepard inserted the OSD into a slot on the side of the hand computer. Automatically, the software cross-referenced with the floor-plan files and replaced the street-level map with a wire-frame representation of the hotel. The blip that was Lauren was in the penthouse suite. The notes accompanying the floor-plans assured Shepard and any potential guests that their privacy was assured as access was restricted to holders of passkeys.

"Isn't that just typical?" Shepard muttered. She had no doubt a standard military-issue omni-tool would be able to crack the security protocols within moments but the technical side of military service had never seemed very interesting to Shepard. Again, she was going to have to improvise.

Rising from the sofa, Shepard eyed the bank of elevators, trying to look as though she belonged here. _OK Shepard, you need to get into the penthouse suite. The elevator won't take you there without a key and it's a good bet the stairwells are covered as well. Let's hear some options, people._

Another thought struck her as she walked slowly towards the elevator, hands in her coat pockets _Find a security guard, they'll have keys. Subdue him, get key, find daughter, make whoever's responsible for taking daughter pay, get out clean with daughter._

A crooked grin curved her lips as Shepard hit the call button for the lifts.


	7. Excessive Force

7. Excessive Force

The Garden of Eden Hotel had a total of ten floors, with ground level through to level nine open to all hotel guests. The tenth level was accessible only through the use of a passkey. As Shepard rode up to the ninth floor, she stared fixedly at the slot the key would go into. It almost seemed to be mocking her. Soon, the doors opened and Shepard stepped out into the hallway. Doors leading off the hall were spaced at regular intervals along both sides of the hallway but there was nobody else around. Then motion in her peripheral vision caused Shepard's head to turn to the left, just in time to see a tall man in a rent-a-cop type uniform push through the door at the end of the hallway and out into the stairwell beyond. Walking rapidly to catch up, Shepard saw the faint flare of a lighter and realised the man was taking a quick cigarette break. _Pefect_ she thought as she lunged forward, grabbed the guard by the shoulder and spun him into the wall of the stairwell as, behind them the door clicked shut. The guard grunted and tried to put an elbow into Shepard's stomach. He stopped as he felt the gun barrel press into the back of his head.

"What..." the man gulped visibly, sweat beading on his forehead, "What do you want?"

"Access key to the penthouse level," Shepard said quietly. "Don't try to be a hero. You're not being paid enough to risk your life trying to stop me."

Sweating freely, the man said, "OK, OK, just let me get it-" his words were cut off as Shepard put him into a sleeper hold.

"I think I'll get it myself, thanks all the same."  
The man fell into a heap as she stepped away from him. Shepard quickly frisked the unconscious guard, relieving him of the passkey as well as his radio. The radio was going to be a problem, she belatedly realised. If the guard didn't check in or respond to his superiors, they'd come looking for him. Once they found him, they'd realise their security was compromised. Shepard cursed as she realised she'd effectively given herself a time limit and didn't even know how long it was.

Carefully easing the door open a crack, Shepard carefully peered out at the hallway beyond. A young couple were just leaving their room and heading to the elevator. Once they were out of visual range, Shepard silently re-entered the hallway, tucking the gun back out of sight as she did.

Back inside the lift car, Shepard inserted the key into the slot at the top of the rows of glowing numbers. As the elevator made its all-too-brief trip upwards, Shepard tried to centre herself. She breathed deeply, hoping with each exhale to rid herself of uncertainty and fear. She couldn't afford to freeze up now, not when she was so close. The elevator doors slid open and Shepard stepped out onto the black and white marbled floor. Up ahead was the door to the penthouse suite proper. No guards though. Shepard couldn't decide whether this was a good or bad thing. Good in that she still had the element of surprise. Bad in that she had no clue as to the force composition of the enemy. _You idiot, Shepard. A combat veteran walking into a situation completely blind. And still you were a Spectre for five years? The Council really must have been desperate if you were their last best hope._

With an effort, Shepard silenced the voice and strode up the hallway, boot heels clicking on the polished floor. Halfway to the door, a discreet fire alarm button set into the right hand wall caught her attention. "Break glass in case of emergency," Shepard said to herself. Raising the butt of her pistol to shatter the panel, she decided her missing daughter constituted an emergency.

Despite everything that had happened in the last little while, Lauren struggled to keep her eyes open. The reality of her situation had finally set in and she felt fear unlike anything she'd ever experienced before now. Her mind, frayed almost to breaking point was trying to shut itself down and just drift off somewhere, it didn't really care where. It just wanted _out_. Lauren reached up with her free hand and slapped herself in the face as hard as she could. "No way, uh uh, you do _not_ get the option to just curl up and die, girl."

Since chaining her to the towel rail in the bathroom, her captors hadn't so much as glanced at her. Lauren was deeply thankful for that much at least. She was a pretty girl. They were men. The thought of rape was when her mind first began to shy away from reality. At first she had struggled vainly against the cuff around her right wrist but stopped when the metal first chafed at then broke her skin, blood oozing from the wound.

Now, slumped on the tiled floor, her arm suspended painfully above her head, it was all she could do to keep herself awake. She felt a dull heat spreading over her face where she'd slapped herself and considered doing it again; at least the pain would keep her up. For a while at least. Though she struggled mightily against it, her head dropped forward, chin resting on her chest and she dozed.

Only to jerk awake an unknown amount of time later, to the sound of fire alarms and raised voices from outside the bathroom door. _Fire? Oh great, that's all I need! Could this day get any worse? Seriously, could it?_

_Oh right, the threat of rape._ Shuddering, Lauren climbed to her feet, her right arm exploding painfully into pins and needles as she did so. Her ears began to ache from the volume of the bells.

"Hey! Hey! Kidnappers! You coming to let me out of here or what? I'm no good to you dead, you stupid-" Lauren's mouth fell open as she heard what may have been gunshots from somewhere outside.

With the girl secured in the bathroom and contact made with the illustrious former Captain Shepard, One decided it was time for him to relax for a while with a snifter of nice brandy. The whole operation so far had gone rather smoothly, the sound beating of his hirelings by the girl notwithstanding. Yes, One thought to himself as he swirled yet another another glass of brandy around, things were well in hand. By this time tomorrow, he would be five million credits richer and- his train of thought was rudely derailed by the sound of the fire alarms.

"The management of this establishment had better have a good reason for scheduling a fire drill _now_," he said as he stood up. Two, Three and Four all looked around in confusion, guns out and seeking threats.

One sighed and carefully placed the brandy glass back down on the bar. Good help was _so_ hard to find these days. "Go and see what the fuss is and put those stupid guns away, do you want to alert the entire building to the fact that we are engaged in criminal activities?" he said, raising his voice to be heard over those blasted alarm bells.

"What about the girl?" Two asked as the others departed.

"It isn't as though she can go anywhere is it?" One replied.

"But the fire?" Two protested.  
"There isn't a fire, you ingrate, it's simply a drill."

"But what if...it isn't a fire and it isn't a drill?"

"Two, what are you suggesting?"  
"Sir, do you honestly think a former member of the Spectres would just accept having her daughter taken from her? If I were her, I'd think using a fire alarm to draw out the enemy would be a good idea," Two explained. He could faintly hear the girl yelling out from the bathroom.

"That is possibly the single most intelligent thing you've said, Two," the boss replied. "Go and join the others, I'll stay here and-" One broke off as he heard gunshots from the front of the penthouse.

Amid the clamour of the fire alarms, Shepard stood calmly a dozen metres from the door, gun held in a two-handed grip and waited. She didn't have long to wait, as after less than a minute, the heavy wooden door opened, and, framed in the doorway, a plain looking man in his mid thirties. Close behind the first man was a second, this one with an obviously recently broken nose. A quick smile, little more than an upward twitch of her lips touched Shepard's face as she observed her daughter's handiwork. The man in the lead gaped at her for a moment, before fumbling inside his jacket.

_Deep breath in, squeeze the trigger on the exhale_. Shepard snapped off two shots and the man stumbled back into the room, collapsing against his fellow kidnapper. Two bullet wounds appeared high up on his chest and blood spurted out onto the floor, staining the carpet. The broken-nosed man got his gun up and Shepard dived to one side, firing as she went. Both rounds smashed into the door jamb, splinters flying in all directions. From her position on the floor, Shepard braced her right hand on her left wrist and fire again. This time her aim was true and the second man fell back, futilely attempting to stem the arterial spray from his throat. More blood stained the carpet, shockingly bright against the cream pile.

Shepard scrambled to her feet and, using a biotic barrier to augment her suit shields, entered the penthouse.

Lauren cringed back against the wall as far as the handcuff chain allowed her as the gunshots rang out. She looked up, eyes wide as the bathroom door opened and the man calling himself One appeared, with a gun of his own in hand. Wordlessly he gripped Lauren by the shoulder and hauled her upright. Keeping the gun trained on her, One unlocked her restraints before pulling her in front of him and holding the gun to her head.

"No...please," Lauren whimpered as, finally the veneer of sarcasm cracked and the awful reality of her own mortality sank in.

"Move," her captor hissed into her ear and forced her out of the bathroom.

Shepard stepped carefully over the corpses in the doorway, sweeping the room from left to right as she moved. Before her was a lounge area with leather-upholstered furniture and decorated with oil paintings and vases. No gunmen or girl to be seen. Shepard moved through the lounge, turning towards a closed door that probably led to the kitchen area. The door swung open and without much surprise, Shepard observed a third man emerge with a gun trained on her. For a moment, neither one moved. The man wore a look of weary resignation as he and Shepard locked eyes.

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry it's come to this," Two said calmly as the former Spectre stared hard at him.

"Where is she?" she replied, fighting down panic.

"Couldn't you have just paid us the ransom like the boss asked? Did you really think you could just come up here like some avenging angel and-" Two grunted as Shepard hit him with a biotic throw, slamming him heavily against the refrigerator. The gun clattered to the floor and he lunged forward to grab it.

Shepard aimed carefully and fired.

A scream tore its way from Two's throat as his most of his right hand disappeared in a red spray.

"Where. Is. She?" Shepard ground out as she stood just out of reach of the man. His face was ashen and he was attempting to staunch the bleeding by pressing his hand into the fabric of his clothing.

Two moaned wordlessly, rocking back and forth in shock. Shepard raised the gun a final time.

"That's quite enough of that," warned the cultured voice from behind her. Shepard turned slowly and let out a gasp as she took in the sight of the middle-aged man in the suit using her daughter as a human shield. Shepard's right hand opened and her sidearm fell to the floor.

"Lauren," she said in a voice barely above a whisper. "Oh baby, I'm so sorry I couldn't protect you."

Lauren shook her head, "Not your fault...I shouldn't have gone out for that run. I'm sorry."

"Yes, yes, this is all very touching," One interjected, "but there will be plenty of time for recriminations later, Captain. You're extremely lucky I didn't simply execute your brat a soon as you began your futile attack."

"Please," Shepard began, a lump forming in her throat. Tears began to spill from her eyes. "I'll do whatever you want, just please don't harm her."

"Whatever I want, hm? Best be careful what you're offering Captain; you could leave yourself open to all sorts of nastiness."

"You said you wanted five million credits? Look, just let her go free and I'll wire you every last credit I have."

"It's rather too late for that, don't you think?" One replied, pressing the gun barrel more firmly into the girl's ear. She turned her head away, eyes squeezed tightly shut. "After all, I gave you the opportunity to end this all without violence and you threw that opportunity away."

Fighting against the almost overwhelming fear and panic that was trying to grip her mind, Shepard continued trying to negotiate for her daughter's life, "Take me, then."  
"What?" Lauren's head whipped around to face her mother and her eyes went wide. She gasped as One's gripped tightened.

"I'm sorry, baby. I'm doing this for you," Shepard said quietly, then addressing One, continued, "Let her go. Take me instead. Sell me to the batarians, use me as your own personal whore, I don't care just _let my daughter go!"_

"No! You can't do this, not for me," Lauren yelled. Both she and her mother were weeping now.

"Lauren, my darling girl, I'd die for you, if it meant you'd be safe," Shepard said.

One barked a harsh laugh, startling them both. "You disappoint me, Shepard. Why would I trade away one perfectly good piece of merchandise for another, when I could have both?" Chuckling softly, One continued speaking, seemingly oblivious to the near-identical expressions on the faces of mother and daughter: determination and a rising tide of rage. "But I do like the way you think, Captain. The batarians? Yes, for you they would be willing to part with considerably more than five million credits. Especially if I can offer them your child as well. Tell me, has she been deflowered yet?"

"You make me sick, you old bastard," Lauren hissed.

Ignoring her, One removed the gun from the side of his captive's head and swung it up to point at her mother. It was all the opening Shepard needed. A blue-white glow suffusing her body, Shepard raised her right arm and a mass effect field threw both One and Lauren across the room.

For a moment, as her feet suddenly parted company with the floor, Lauren felt a sensation of weightlessness. She was faintly aware of One's pained shout as he too was thrown back into the lounge area. In the brief period she spent airborne, Lauren had time to wonder just how much of her biotic ability her mother had hit them with. Then she slammed into the floor and stopped wondering.

_God, what have I done?_ Shepard took an unsteady step forward, shaking uncontrollably. She seemed to see the world through prisms of light, her vision clouded by the tears that coursed down her face. Her daughter's captor lay on the deep pile carpet, left leg bent underneath him at an unnatural angle. He moaned in pain as he tried to move away from her. A few feet past him rested Lauren. She had landed on her back, arms and legs sprawled about her, her long hair fanned out around her head like some piece of abstract art. Lauren's wide blue eyes were open and she stared without seeing at the ceiling.

"No, no, not my little girl," Shepard sighed to herself over and over as her knees gave way, spilling her onto the floor alongside her daughter. Shepard pressed shaky fingers against her daughter's neck, feeling for a pulse. She wept with relief as she felt the life-affirming throb beneath her finger tips.

"You're going to be OK, baby. We're going to be OK."

Lauren's eyelids flickered open and shut several times as she painfully came back to the here and now. She felt a dull ache at the back of her head but other than that, everything seemed fine. She just wished her mother would stop crying over her. Could she _be_ any more embarrassing?

"God, what the hell did you do?" she managed to say, focusing on her mother's tear-streaked face.

"Lauren," she replied, wiping her eyes, "I thought I'd lost you." Shepard looked into her daughter's eyes, filled with such an overwhelming feeling of relief and joy that she thought her heart would burst.

Clinging to each other for support, the two women staggered unsteadily to their feet. Lauren looked over at her erstwhile abductor and winced at the sight of his leg. By now, One had managed to drag himself painfully towards where his gun had fallen from his grasp.

Despite the circumstances, Alison had to laugh. "You just don't know when to quit, do you?"

Shepard the Elder quickly moved to stand over One and slammed her boot heel into his hand. He whimpered some more.

Shepard savagely ground the boot heel, and the hand trapped beneath it, into the carpet. One screamed as his bones popped. Lauren looked away, feeling ill. She knew her mother'd had a reputation for the use of excessive force on occasion but this was the first time she'd actually witnessed it. But on the other hand, after what they'd both been put through, maybe busting the guy up was justified.

Pinned beneath Captain Shepard's heel, One thrashed about futiley, trying to free himself. His left leg was an unending torrent of pain and his right hand wasn't much better. Looking up into the woman's eyes, he knew she wasn't finished with him yet either.

Keeping her weight firmly on her right leg, a small, sadistic part of her enjoying the man's wails, Shepard quickly leaned over and picked up the gun. It fit neatly into her hand. Straightening up, Shepard looked down at the man who'd organised to have her daughter taken from her, trying to summon up some shred of remorse or pity for what she was about to do. Nothing was coming.

Without looking around, Shepard said just loudly enough for Lauren to hear, "Look away now, sweetheart. I don't want you to see this."

"Oh God," Lauren said and resolutely turned away from the sight of her mother slash angel of death. She stuck her fingers into her ears for good measure. Even so, the sound of the gunshot made her jump.

Looking down at the contorted body, blood spreading rapidly from the head wound, Shepard struggled with herself to _feel something_, anything. But aside from the feelings of unconditional love she felt for her daughter and the relief that she was unharmed, Shepard felt nothing. No grief for the men she'd murdered, and no pity for the sole survivor she'd left in the kitchen with his ruined hand. She honestly didn't know whether that made her any better than the men who'd abducted her child.

Shepard slowly turned to see Lauren, standing with her back to her, fingers still blocking her ears. The sight was almost comical, given the surroundings. Pausing only long enough to retrieve her weapon, Shepard returned to her daughter, swept her into her arms and carried her out and home.

The End


End file.
